"We started thinking about doing a zombie game last year and began developing a quest-based MMO set in a large, zombie-infested world. Players would be able to explore and unlock new areas on the map as they progress through quests assigned to them in-game," explains executive producer Sergey Titov.

What about the DayZ connection? There really isn't one aside from coincidental timing. DayZ is a mod for an existing military sim title, whereas The War Z is a stand-alone MMO with a dedicated team behind it (and an upfront cost of $29.99). Is it really an MMO, though? That's in the eye of the beholder, we suppose, but it does have a huge open world, PvP, and the ability to support 250 players per server. The War Z also features dozens of skills and social niceties like bounties and in-game notes (no profanity, though; blowing off zombie heads should never result in inappropriate language).

the main site is live and you can apply to be in the beta. also, here is a Q&A on IGN.

« Last Edit: June 20, 2013, 04:36:16 AM by CeeKay »

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I dont see a problem with the name. Do a trademark search and it looks wide open.

I wouldn't say that. There is the book World War Z which is only one word off and it has a movie version coming out soon, which in my book would be reason enough for the World War Z team to take notice and ask the War Z guys to change the game's name.

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" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

I dont see a problem with the name. Do a trademark search and it looks wide open.

I wouldn't say that. There is the book World War Z which is only one word off and it has a movie version coming out soon, which in my book would be reason enough for the World War Z team to take notice and ask the War Z guys to change the game's name.

Paramount also recently filed for the World War Z trademark with respect to game properties.

one word off is one word off, meaning its not trademarked. You can do trademark searches, I did, war z was wide open. I dont think you quite understand how trademarks work. World War z, give you World War Z. Its doesn't also give you Z, war z, etc.. Its very specific, hell plus you have to trademark within a wide range of industries with regard to the exact same trademark.

« Last Edit: August 02, 2012, 02:15:05 AM by tcweidner »

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Nobody said it was trademark infringement, just that they're treading awfully close to a couple other established brands. Trying to cash in on the popularity of other projects is generally not the sign of a project comfortable with it's own strengths.

one word off is one word off, meaning its not trademarked. You can do trademark searches, I did, war z was wide open. I dont think you quite understand how trademarks work. World War z, give you World War Z. Its doesn't also give you Z, war z, etc.. Its very specific, hell plus you have to trademark within a wide range of industries with regard to the exact same trademark.

I actually do know how trademarks work. And if I were the legal counsel for the trademark owners of World War Z I would be sending the War Z guys a cease and desist letter ASAP. Especially if the World War Z guys are working on a video game.

There are also copyright concerns to worry about, but I won't go into those.

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" And they are a strong and frightening force, impervious to, and immunized against, the feeble lance of mere reason." Isaac Asimov

I disagree. You MUST defend your mark vigorously against anything remotely similar or run the risk of wind up losing it. The first thing I thought of was "world War Z". I don't think it is a stretch that they could argue there would be confusion.

For a recent example, I believe Mojang had to reach some sort of settlement to keep the name of their game "Scrolls" because of the Elder Scrolls series. Two marks don't have to be identical for there to be an issue.

"Large open world" + 250 per server does not compute, not large in MMO terms, anyway.

You MUST defend your mark vigorously against anything remotely similar or run the risk of wind up losing it.

disagree, not " anything remotely". The laws are changing in IP law, you simply cant go around threatening anyone at anytime anymore. We just had a meeting with our IP lawyers about this very subject

as for scrolls. umm what settlement, you mean this? later tweeted details of the agreement: "The settlement is that we give them the trademark," he said, "get to keep the name, and won't make an Elder Scrolls competitor using the name." Not that it was likely to in the first place.

exactly my point. Elder scrolls changed nothing by going after them. Just lawyers with too much time on their hands.

I would find it hard to believe they would invest so much time and so forth in promoting this game and name warZ without first consulting an IP lawyer to ask if they were OK doing so, but then again stranger and dumber things are known to have happened.

« Last Edit: August 04, 2012, 05:42:28 PM by tcweidner »

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as for scrolls. umm what settlement, you mean this? later tweeted details of the agreement: "The settlement is that we give them the trademark," he said, "get to keep the name, and won't make an Elder Scrolls competitor using the name." Not that it was likely to in the first place.

exactly my point. Elder scrolls changed nothing by going after them. Just lawyers with too much time on their hands.

My point is that the name was similar, it was defended, and while in the end, it was "no big deal" per se (as you say, it changed nothing), it cost time, money and aggravation. No one benefits but the lawyers, and it can be a major hassle to the party on the receiving end. It doesnt take much to ring up thousands of dollars in attorney bills.

As to the finer points of ip law, I won't argue, I'm certainly no expert, and my understanding of things may be out of date.

The War Z will not generate any quests for you. Any quests you wish to participate in will come directly from the community. Maybe somebody will need a bodyguard while they look to scrounge up supplies in a deadly metropolitan center. Maybe someone will pay you to fight to the death in their gladiator pit, set up on a remote farm. Maybe somebody just wants to pay you for a sniper rifle scope.

There are a lot of opportunities for players to come up with their own narrative in The War Z – and that's exactly what developer Hammerpoint Interactive hopes players will do.

The quest system itself is nothing more than a glorified message board, where players in need can put up a post and wait to see what happens. But with no governing body in the game, no system in place to protect you from your peers, the underlying danger of the survivors quickly becomes apparent. At any time, somebody can just kill you and steal your stuff.

so pretty much like DayZ, except with the message board. or does DayZ have something like that too?

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Well, also with engine and gameplay elements purpose built for the experience, instead of juryrigged for this.

Also some other cool stuff, like being able to pay a monthly fee for a server so you can build permanent structures in places. They have stories of people doing very cool stuff that you also see in DayZ, but not at supported or elaborate.

They mention someone settings up a gladiatoral arena, where you pay to enter, and get a prize if you win. Other instances of communes for various purposes, and even a couple that basically played farmville in the game, running a farm with the husband going into town to sell his food to players.

Hmm - well...I realize the game is in Alpha, but its currently quite the mess. Half the time I can't log on, either because the total number of players is exceed (15.000) or because of an obscure error that tells me to update the client, even though there is no client update.

Secondly, the engine is constantly flickering and doing weird stuff with the lights. Zombies are standing in one place with the running animations. Constant DC's, or crashes, and it takes forever whenever the game exits your character.

I've found precious little look (A flashlight once, which is also something you start out with), and a coke can. The players are constantly playerkilling though, so thats a bit annoying as well.

Anyways - all of the above CAN be fixed in patches, I just have very little faith in the company that has "Leage of Legends" in their Terms of agreement, because they just copy/pasted it over and forgot to correct the name to their own game.

Right now, there is very little to do in the game and the maps seems too compact for me. I cant walk for more than one minute without suddenly being in a new inhabited area. I was under the impression there were large swathes of forest, fields and the like.

I've given it a few tries.it is alpha so take it with a grain of salt.

terrible right now. you get whacked with a flashlight by a camper immediately 75% of the time. apparently they don't really care about spawn camping. and the map is tiny (so far, apparently will be much bigger).

graphics are not good - maybe alpha, maybe because the game they are modding is not that great.

i'm holding out hope but the lead developer seems like an ego maniacal flake. a little worried the whole thing might be a cash grab.

anyway, lesson to developers. do not allow tiered payments for a game where those paying more get early access to your currently crappy game. people paying for something might just expect something. allow a few winners of some signup lotto free access to your alpha=win. Having people pay a premium to get access to your alpha=meh.

I played a little more of this yesterday and at least it was more stable... Didn't crash once for me..

I believe the small map is on purpose for the alpha test...combat still seems a little wonky, although I did finally kill a zombie! I would prefer easier to kill zombies, but more of them... plus some sort of crosshairs, even for melee weapons, so you can aim at the head... either that, or don't require headshots to kill zombies.. I got into a fight with a zombie that killed me real quickly...

Don't like the death penalties at all.... having to wait an hour to respawn is kind of crazy. (Yes, I do know you can load an alt, but if all of your alts are dead, you have to wait or delete an alt.. plus, you lose all of your inventory on death and respwaning doesn't get it back, so you basically respawn "naked".. and you can't melee unarmed... would be nice to at least be able to knock zombies down or something...

Did not get PKed in my latest adventure, but didn't really run into anyone..

They blatantly lie on the Steam store page as well, claiming a lot of stuff that simply isn't true. Like 100 players per server, its 50, like 100-400 square kilometers - its 70, friends lists and skill trees - neither are in.

What a blatant profit attempt on the success of the DayZ mod. I hope everyone who bought the game requests a refund. The quoted comments from Titov are crazy. The customers misread the features that were clearly listed on the Steam page, imaging features that weren't there? That's some slimy sh*t. Please send this developer back under the rock they came from when there are so many other talented developers and studios trying to get their gems listed on Steam.

I honestly don't mind if someone tries to profit off what DayZ has done, after all, there have been some really good minecraft clones or offshoots of the game style. The only problem here is the whole thing was a scam from the beginning, not that they were copying a successful formula.

It was also revealed that some demo screen shots used to promote the game were in fact ripped from The Walking Dead video game. Sounds like a total scam. Unfortunately this kind of crap is becoming common.